All cowled up with nowhere to go

It's finished:

The Danube cowl.

I connected the cowl with buttons instead of Kitchener stitch, as a design change (read: I was on an airplane and couldn't remember how to do a provisional cast-on). The buttons are mother-of-pearl--I love MOP. It's always cold when you touch it at first and like a magpie I love anything shiny.

I can hear my mom right now: 'Mother-of-pearl is for old ladies.' That's always her go-to descriptor for any of my tastes she thinks are dumb--'Lavender scented stuff is for old ladies.' 'Recumbent bicycles are for old ladies.' I remember when I was maybe 7 years old or so, and I wanted to be called Crystal (don't ask, I don't know). 'Crystal is an old lady name!'. It was only when I grew older that I discovered Crystal was in fact a white trash name, not an old lady name (sorry if you or your loved ones are named Crystal--no, I mean I'm sorry that it's your name, because it's totally WT).

So here I am in the state of WA on a little business trip, and what happens?

Son of a bitch! Nice weather, sunny and 70. The lovely cowl is staring at me with its big, sad, old lady mother-of-pearl eyes. I'm sorry! I promise I'll wear you as soon as I can.

Breaking the rules

Alexandra over at Wool & Cotton had a post a few days ago putting words to a problem that I didn't even consciously realize I had: a set of self-imposed rules. "Don't buy more yarn, you already have plenty you haven't used." "You can't make that, it's the middle of winter and that's a bikini." "No, not that yarn for that pattern. You won't use all of it, so it's not practical."

Well screw you, brain--I'm paying you to think, not to be a total buzzkill. I saw that Leah from Good Enough published her first pattern recently--it was a pretty cowl and looked soft, and I wanted to make it. I don't care that a) it's not winter any more, b) I'm using the last of my yarn from my NZ honeymoon, or c) it probably won't use the whole ball of yarn.

This is what rebellion looks like:




Soft and wavy, apparently. Viva la resistance!